Weekly Blog Review 2: Blogussion.com

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This weeks Stand Out Blog is:

Blogussion.com

If you have been around blog about blogging niche for any time you are sure to have heard about Blogussion. Alex and Seth have just done some tweaking to their design and when I saw their entry I was excited to see what input I could offer.

So let’s kick things off with the design and aesthetics, as this is the area they have most recently changed, and pull the design apart and see what they are doing well and maybe just a couple of little things that could be tweaked.

• Design & Aesthetics

  
  

  Blogussion is based on the popular Thesis Wordpress Theme, but has been highly customised into what I would say is one of the most well thought out and visually attractive wordpress themes at the moment,

  Here are a few features that I Love:

  1. Focus Is On The Important Stuff
     Anything that the authors have thought to be of importance to visitors stands out so that you definitely cannot miss it. From the larger sub-navigation under the logo, to the visually compelling sidebar that draws your attention to their RSS and Newsletter subscriptions as well as the most popular posts(bringing traffic back to older posts).
  2. Homepage Article Formatting
     Alex and Seth have somehow found a way to easily fit 15 of their most recent articles onto the homepage without the feeling of being overcrowded or overwhelmed by content. This would definitely help increase traffic flowing into more of their recent posts.
  3. Fantastic Use Of Below Post Space
     
     This is definitely my favourite feature of the whole Blogussion design. The implementation of a ‘Post Highlight’ to recap the most important snip its from the post is probably one of the most innovative addons to a blog design that I have seen in ages. On top of that, the use of ’similar articles’ and calls to actions helps direct readers on where to go after reading the post – keeping them on the site long or converting them to followers of Blogussion in one way or another.

  The final positive note actually comes from my wife when she came over to see how the review was going and said ‘ Tell them that I want their design!’ – Enough said.

  How I Would Improve The Design
  This is a lot tougher than I would have through.Usually there are a heap of little things that could be improved with the design of a blog, however Alex and Seth have done a great job in nutting out the little flaws and there were only one tiny things that I could mention:

  1. The large amount of features started to draw me away from the main attraction – the content. All I will say is, “Don’t let your design become the focus of your blog. It is only their to compliment the content.”

• Content & Direction

  Once again, I have chosen to review a blog with a focus on producing quality content. When you consider that one of the Authors is only 16 years old, you begin to see why this blog is definitely on the right track for long-term success. When it comes to the individual posts, the formatting compliments the content very well and the unique quote box definitely draws attention to what is important.

  The current posting frequency at Blogussion.com, of once every two days, was quite acceptable given the length and quality of the posts. But with the introduction of posting every weekday will definitely increase traffic – especially from RSS subscribers.

• Branding & Marketing

  Branding comes down to just one simple thing – how people see your product (In this case your blog).

  

  The Blogussion logo has had a few simple changes with the new changes to the theme. The main one being the introduction of the comment icon with the ‘B’ inside it. I think this is a terrific branding strategy as it gives the blog a common icon that people can associate with.

  I know a lot of people associate branding with design, but branding also includes perception – which means how people see the blog. When you look at the the fact that the average post on Blogussion has anywhere from 20-70 comments, I am sure you will agree with me that the blog has some decent credibility.  This credibility has been based on consistent, quality content – and something that a lot of bloggers could learn a lot from.

  Guest Posting
  The authors are massive fans of guest posting as you can tell from their post: How We Earned Over 200 Subscribers With 2 Simple Posts.

  Guest posting is something that I have done a little bit of and it definitely comes down to choosing the right blogs to guest post on and considering that Seth has been writing for ProBlogger.net and DailyBlogTips.com, I am sure you will agree he is hitting his target market.

• Monetization

  Blogussion has a ‘no banner advertising policy’ which I totally agree with. You can read more in Alex’s post: How I Realized Banner Ads are Harmful to my Community. With a focus on community and the introduction of a mailing list, I definitely don’t think they will be missing the minimal banner ad dollars any time soon.

  One Thing I Am Surprised With
  

  Considering that Blogussion.com has been around for quite a while now, I am surprised with how long it has taken them to introduce a newsletter subscription. One of the most quoted statements when it comes to online marketing is, ‘The money is in the list.’ However, that being said, I am very much looking forward to seeing what this Newsletter has to offer.

In Conclusion

This definately turned into a what you can learn from a well planned out blog, rather than a review, but I really think that there are a lot of things that we can all learn from how the guys at Blogussion.com do things.

Now it is over your you, if you have any input for Alex and Seth, then leave a comment below.

If you would like a review of your blog like this, then head over to our Free Weekly Blog Review page as I will be giving away a free review each week as a way for us all to gain insight from other blogs.